Strand handling apparatus



April 11, 1939. .1. N. SELVIG STRAND HANDLING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 10,1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 April 11, 193%. J SEQ/[G 2,153,996

STRAND H'AfiDLING APPARATUS Fild Oct. 10, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 3.

INVENT'OR J. N. SELV/G.

Patented Apr. 11, 1939 STRAND HANDLING APPARATUS John N. Selvig,Westfield, N. J assignor to Western Electric Company,

Incorporated, New

York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application October 10, 1935,Serial No. 44,314

2 Claims.

This invention relates to strand handling apparatus and moreparticularly to strand control apparatus for distributing or guiding astrand being wound or taken up on a driven rotatable spool, reel or thelike.

It is sometimes necessary that a strand being taken up on a rotatingreel be guided thereto in a continuously cyclically varying manner sothat successive coils of the strand on the reel will lie regularlybeside each other in smooth layers smoothly disposed one on another.There are many types of apparatus for operating on strands in which oneor more strands pass from the apparatus, after being operated onsimultaneously, in mutually parallel relationship and are woundsimultaneously although independently of each other upon a correspondingplurality of take-up reels. In such instances it is desirable that eachstrand be guided to or distributed on its reel in a manner adapted toallow for the fact that ordinarily such reels are so driven as tomaintain a constant pull on the strand and to wind the strand atconstant linear speed thereof. Hence the rotary speed of the reeldecreases as the body of wound strand on the reel increases incircumference. Hence, the lateral speedof the distributing means alongthe reel from head to head thereof must also decrease in correspondingfashion.

An object of the present invention is to provide a distributingapparatus for use in connection with strand take-up reels which shall beentirely automatic in action during the filling of a reel and shalladapt its own pace to the decelerative variation in reel speed requiredby the layers of wound strand being each of successively increasingdiameter although the strand is being wound on the reel at asubstantially constant linear velocity.

One embodiment of the invention contemplates a distributor guide memberdriven in to and fro reciprocation from a speed changing device ortransmission whose speed changing power in turn is varied by meansactuated by the reciprocation of a member connected to the guide.

The above and other objects and features of the invention will appearfrom the following detailed description of one embodiment thereof takenin connection with the accompanying drawings in which the same referencenumerals are applied to identical parts in the several figures and inwhich Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view of a strand distributing apparatusconstructed in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view in perspective and partly in section of thespeed changing device;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view in section on the line 3-3 ofFig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of Fig. 3, and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged section on the line 55 of Fig. 1.

In the embodiment of the invention herein disclosed, one or more take-upreels 2!! are driven through a shaft 2| by means not shown to wind onthe reels one or more strands 22 at constant linear speed of thestrands. The reel driving means is not a part of the present inventionand therefore is not shown, but one such means is disclosed in detail inU. S. Patent 1,598,937 issued September 7, 1926, upon an applicationfiled by the present inventor, to which reference may be had if desired.Each strand is guided to and distributed on its reel by a strand guide23 of any suitable nature and construction but here shown as a simplefinger over which the strand passes at an angle under its own tension.The guides 23 are rigidly mounted in and carried by a common rack 24supported by means not shown, and oriented parallel to the axes of thereels 20 and to be reciprocable longitudinally of itself. The rack 24 isdriven through a gear 25, a shaft 26, a gear 21 and a second rack 28from a rotary cam 29 by means of cam rollers 3|] carried on pins 3|mounted in the rack 28. The cam 29 is secured to and driven by a gear32, which in turn is driven by speed reducing mechanism 33, 34, 35, froma variable speed transmission device generally indicated at 36, througha sprocket and chain drive 31, 38, 39.

The sprocket 39 is mounted on the output shaft 40 of the variable speeddevice 36, on which is also rigidly mounted a friction cone 4|. Theinput shaft 42 is parallel to the shaft 40 and carries rigidly thereon afriction cone 43, and is driven at constant speed by means not shown.The two cones 4| and 43 are oriented with their axes parallel butpointed in opposite directions so that the linear surface element ineach nearest to the other is parallel to the nearest linear surfaceelement of the other.

A screw threaded shaft 44 lies midway between the two cones and parallelto their respective nearest linear surface elements and is journalled atits left end in any suitable stationary support, while its right end isconnected through a universal joint 45 to a shaft 46 mounted to beparallel to the shafts 40 and 42. A pair of rigid and unmoving guiderods 41, 41 are mounted parallel to the shaft 44 and a nut 48 is mountedon the shaft 44 to be moved along the same by rotation thereof, beingheld against rotation by the guide rods 41 passing through apertures inthe nut.

A friction wheel 49 is rotatably carried on the nut, preferably onantifriction bearings as shown in Fig. 2, and is so dimensioned as tomake suitable driving contact at opposite ends of a diameter of thewheel 49 with the two cones 4| and 43. Thus the input shaft 42 runningat constant speed will drive the output shaft at a speed dependent uponthe position of the nut 48 and wheel 49 on the shaft 44.

A sprocket Ill rigidly secured on the shaft may be driven through achain 5! from a sprocket 52 rigidly mounted on a shaft 53. A rockerplate 54 is positioned on the shaft 53 with freedom to rock thereonunder the reciprocating drive of a pin 55 carried by the rack 28. A pawl55 is pivotally mounted on the rocker plate 54 and takes into the teethof a ratchet wheel 51 rigidly secured to the shaft 53. The pawl 58 maybe lifted out of contact with the ratchet wheel as hereinafter describedby a pin 55 extending laterally over the ratchet from a lever arm 59rigidly secured on a hollow shaft or sleeve 80 coaxial with androtatable on the shaft 53. The shaft 53 is journalled in and supportedby a stationary member 6| which may be a part of or secured to theprincipal machine frame. Lateral dimensions have been exaggerated inthis part of diagrammatic Fig. 1 to spread the parts for clarity.

A spur gear 52 rigid on the shaft 52 meshes with another gear 61 securedon a shaft 54 also journalled in the member ii. A cam 55 also is securedon the shaft 54 and coacts with a lug 65 integral with a member 61secured on the sleeve 60. There is also a hand wheel 58 rigidly mountedon the end of the shaft 53.

In operation, the shafts 2| and 42 are driven at appropriate speeds bymeans not shown from the drive of the principal machine. The shaft 2idrives the spool or reel 20 to wind up the strand 22 thereon atsubstantially constant linear speed of the strand. The shaft 42 runningat substantially constant speed drives the sprocket 40, through thedevice 35, at a speed dependent upon the position of the nut 45 andfriction wheel 49 on the threaded shaft 44. The sprocket 40 in turnrotates the cam 29 through the elements 38, 31, 35, 34, II and I2; andthe cam 25 reciprocates the rack 28 and thereby the rack 24 to causethestrand guide 23 to move back and forth'along the reel 20 and thusdistribute the strand thereon.

Meantime the reciprocation of the rack 28 and with it of the pin 55causes the rocker plate .54 to swing to and fro which causes the pawl 55to advance the ratchet wheel 51 and thus turn the shaft 53 step by stepand with it the sprocket 52 in the direction of the arrow. The sprocket52 drives the chain 5| and sprocket to rotate the shaft 45 and therebythe threaded shaft 44, thus causing the friction wheel 49 to move to theleft (Figs. 1 and 2) and gradually slow down the motion of the entiretrain of mechanism from the cone 4| on. At the same time the shaft 52,through the gears 62, 63 drives the cam slowly around until, when thereel 20 is full and ready to be removed, the forward end of the highpart of the cam strikes and drives the lug 55 and therewith the sleeveand the arm 55 until the pin 58 lifts and holds the pawl 58 out ofcoaction with the ratchet wheel 51, which can then no longer drive theshaft 53.

After the full reel 20 has been interchanged for an empty one, it isnecessary to return the friction wheel 49 to the right hand portion ofthe shaft 44. To this end, the shaft 53 may be reversely rotated by thehand wheel 58, the ratchet 51 moving idly under the lifted pawl and thesprocket 52 driving the shaft 44 to draw the nut 48 and therewith thewheel 49 to the right. The sleeve 60 and arm 59 with the pin 58 remainstationary while the low part of the cam 55 rides idly over the luguntil the other end of the high part of the cam strikes the lug 55 andmoves it back. This draws the pin 55 out from under the pawl 56 and thelatter once more engages the ratchet 51, thus beginning the cycle ofoperation over again.

Thus at each complete reciprocation to and fro of the strand guide 23along the reel, during which two consecutive layers of strand, the speedof the guide is diminished. This diminution is accomplished during thelast fractional part of the return motion of the guide, for during theleft to right motion of the guide the rack 28 is moving up and the pawl55 is moving idly backward over the ratchet, while on the return of theguide from right to left, the pin 55 does not rock the plate 54 untilnear the end of the down stroke of the rack 28 owing to the peculiarshape of the rocker plate (best shown in Fig. 5).

In practice it is found that, with ordinary sizes of wire or strand,alteration of the guide speed at the end of each two layers of windingis sufficient to give satisfactory distribution of the strand on thereel. vAt the same time by this procedure the strand is laid uniformlyover substantially the whole of each layer, the deceleration of motionof the guide being limited to a relatively small fractional part ofevery other layer only, which fractional part may in some instances evenbe confined to the last turn only of the layer.

Means may also be further provided as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, to allowof predetermining the setting ofthe friction wheel 49 for use with anyone of several slightly differing sizes of wire or strand. To this end adial 59 bearing appropriate markings may be secured to the shaft 54 tocooperate with a zero mark or the like 10 carried by an appropriatefixed member 1|.

The embodiment of the invention herein disclosed is illustrative onlyand may be widely depared from in many ways without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention as pointed out in and limited solelyby the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. The combination with a strand winding apparatus having a reel drivento take up a strand at constant linear speed, of a reciprocable strandguide and means to reciprocate the guide at an intermittently variablespeed, said means comprising a reciprocating element, means operativelyconnecting the element to the guide to transfer to the guide likemovements of the element, a cam operatively connected to the element andconditioned to reciprocate the element when rotated, variable speedmeans for rotating the cam, a rocking member, means connecting therocking member to the element to cause movement of the member by theelement, and means actuated by movements of the rocking member to changethe speed of the variable speed means to vary the reciprocatory speed ofthe element and guide.

2. The combination with. a strand winding apparatus having a reel drivento take up a areaeee 3 element, a rocldng member, means operativelycohnecting the rocking member to the element to cause reversedirectional movements of the rocking member, and means actuated adjacentthe termination of movements of the rocking member 5 to vary thevariable speed means.

JOHN N. SELVIG.

